Beneath the Shadow
by FuzzyPickles94
Summary: Years ago, King K. Rool disappeared from public view. While working on his next plot to kill the Kongs family, he reflects on his past interactions with the animals he hates so much.


After the sinking of Kremling Isle six years ago, the surviving Kremlings occupied an uninhabited tropical island. Until now, the Kong family had yet to discover their current location. This island had lush palm trees and a variety of life that they never before knew. Constructing a new Kremling civilization was excruciating as many Kremlings died due to mutiny by King K. Rool, known as the Kremling King, or to the dangerous animals that occupied the place. But the work began to pay off as the Kremling population increased in spite of hard labor, towns were beginning to form, and factories for the latest Kremling military technology were quickly producing new weapons. The island also had a tall mountain which reached approximately six thousand meters. Halfway to the peak loomed a steel castle, three story stories high. On the top, a stone monument of King K. Rool's head with his crown was carved for all to see.

At the top floor of the castle lay the throne room. The throne had a green chair with a long arm rest. Last twilight, K. Rool, a hulking anthropomorphic crocodile with a red cape, jagged teeth, golden belly, and a bloodshot right eye, was sitting on the chair. His left fingers repeatedly touched the arm rest, as if they were waves headed towards the coastline, while the thumb hung free. On the right arm rest between his middle and index finger laid a female, red, black, and white coral snake Slippa. Called Venom, she among many other Slippas were the result of a successful breeding program that began five years ago to repopulate the species after Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong killed most of the Slippas on their journey to return the Banana Hoard. She proceeded to move her head up. K. Rool, knowing what his pet wanted, lifted his right arm up. With his index finger, he stroked the chin of his precious Venom. In response, she stuck her tongue out, delivering a delighted hiss. Satisfied with her master, he removed his index finger and she laid her head down. Putting his hands together on his waist, his thoughts drifted to the Kong family.

'The Kongs and I,' K. Rool thought, 'have a long history together. When the Kremlings took the Banana Hoard, I never expected such stupid creatures to care. I was dumbfounded when Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong destroyed my minions and even re-obtained the Banana Hoard from me. How the Kongs plowed through the Kremlings when they had nothing but their bare arms is beyond me.'

K. Rool seethed with anger, teeth bared in a snarl as he glared into the throne room's shadows. His left fingers tapped the arm rest erratically.

'I thought that the only way to deal with these pests was to kidnap Donkey Kong and coerce the remaining Kongs to give up the Banana Hoard, as I planned another invasion of the island. Never did I expect Diddy or Dixie to not only dare save that lumbering fool DK, but to also reach the top of the Kremling Isle, after facing minions that were even more formidable than the last bunch.' K. Rool was fuming now, claws tearing through the armrest as his fingers curled into a tight fist. 'These stupid Kongs destroyed Kremling Isle and killed the majority of the population. If they had stayed home, they wouldn't have karma creeping up on them!

From that day on, nothing would have made me happier than to see these blasted Kongs die. With certainty in my mind, I captured both Donkey and Diddy with the hope that these dumb apes would finally give up and submit to me. Once again, they had the audacity to challenge my authority. Not only did Dixie Kong arrive, she brought her inept cousin Kiddy and humiliated me.

My last scheme to destroy the Kongs was to simply blow up the island. No other thoughts crossed my mind than to see these apes go away forever. Like the previous attempts, I was sure that this plan could not fail and that without his friends, Donkey Kong would accept defeat. Never would I have been anticipated that I would be embarrassed in front of the Kremlings, especially not with that last punch from Chunky!'

Eyes narrowed to slits, the Kremling King's furious roar reverberated all throughout the throne room.

"I have had it!" K. Rool bellowed. "Four times I have been shamed by the Kongs. They destroyed my homeland and murdered so many of my men! How could it be that these stupid, filthy monkeys could foil my plans? The Kremlings boasts far superior intelligence, military technology that can wipe the Kongs out with one blast, and everyone who sees my eyes cowers before me. Apes can't even perform basic math! They should all be dead!"

K. Rool swung his fists down to pound the arm rests, unaware that Venom laid on the right-hand cushion. Just before he did so, she turned her head and delivered a rough hiss. This briefly snapped him out of his funk, enough to prevent himself from unintentionally smashing the body of his valued Slippa.

"Krunch!" K. Rool said. The door swiftly swung open, and a much smaller male crocodile donning a skull-and-crossbones leather jacket marched inside.

"Yes, your majesty?" Krunch asked.

Hiding his rage, K. Rool ordered, "Put Venom back in the cage." K. Rool pointed to the right wall where Venom's cage was, as if Krunch had never done this before.

"Yes, Sir!"

Krunch paced quickly towards Venom and was greeted with a violent hiss from the Slippa. Carefully, he scooped her up and slowly walked towards the cage to release her. He had to be discreet since a bite from a Slippa would likely be fatal. After reaching the cage, he released her into her habitat and closed the door. He walked out of the room, K. Rool's icy glare boring into his back the whole way.

Shortly after, K. Rool rose up from his chair and began to walk to the large windows that covered a third of the back wall; while doing so he also crossed his arms behind his cape. The question of "how can the Kongs be alive today?" raged in his head for the past six years. He had also not seen the Kongs at all in that time, only knowing for sure that the Kongs were still alive. However, that did not mean he was not watching. He cleared his throat and spoke.

"Three years ago, I orchestrated the rise of the Tikis with the help of Kremlings working underground to ensure that they would not be spotted by the Kongs. While the Tikis failed to undermine the Kongs, the speed with which the Kremlings managed to get the Tiki Tongs unsealed was nothing short of commendable. When Diddy began to do investigative work to find where the Kremlings lived two years later, I contacted Lord Fredrik to get rid of the Kongs and promised to collaborate with him should he be successful. Of course like Tiki Tong, Lord Fredrik was unsuccessful in his venture. But in a way, this has been a success. The Kongs has not been able to discover the Kremling Island, allowing me to work out my approach for revenge without interruptions."

K. Rool flashed a vicious, fanged smirk. He was working on what he considered to be the perfect plan. Victory, he felt, was close.

"I will never forgive the Kongs for disgracing me. The time will come when I will grace the Kongs with my visit," said the Kremling King. "When that happens, none of them will survive."

* * *

 _Hello there everyone! Finally got a second story up and I think this turned out a lot better than my last story. I find myself liking my new fan character, Venom (a female Slippa) and I look foward to developing her as a character should I choose to make another Donkey Kong fanfiction. As for the character, King K. Rool, I believe I did a solid job capturing the character while also exploring parts of him that the games will likely never do._

 _I have fond memories of Donkey Kong Country 1, 2, and DK64. DKC1 is one of the first video games I have ever beaten and DKC2 is one of my favorite 2D platformers. I also like DK64 a lot, even though it may not have aged that well. King K. Rool is my second favorite Donkey Kong character as I fancy his ruthless behavior, which can be hilarious in certain situations. I also miss Kremlings as enemies and hope that they return in a future Donkey Kong game; they were rather zany bunch of enemies (please bring back Enguarde as an Animal Buddy too!)._

 _I'd liked to thank MisterDoubleYum (my beta for this one-shot) for going over my story and giving suggestions on how to improve my writing. Though the draft I sent to him was good, even changes that appear relatively minor made a noticeable difference in the story. Figuring out how to top this story is something that I look forward to doing._

 _I hope that you enjoyed this story as I certainly liked writing it myself._


End file.
